Aristotle's Tragic Hero: Flawed but Godly Character - Essay Sample

Introduction

The definition of a tragic hero and tragedy has played an essential role in the poetic work of Aristotle. Aristotle's imaginative work explained some of the skills that shaped the character of the play. A tragic hero, according to Aristotle, must be a god person that flawed. He must be arranged in a complex but not in a simple plan and should imitate the activities that reflect on the fortunes changing from good to bad (Arp & Johnson, 2015). The change of fortune from evil to good should be because of frailty challenges, according to Aristotle. Aristotle also stated that a fall of the appeal in a play creates fear and uncertainty to the audience and the reader, creates emotions, feelings, and understanding with the attractiveness. The research will analyze how Sophocles' Oedipus refutes Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero (Rahman, 2015). The paper will help assess how Sophocles Oedipus projects Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero through the evaluation of the plot of the play. The work also will focus on the downfall of Oedipus, his character traits concerning the tragic hero and aspects that cause Oedipus fortune reversal.

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Oedipus as A Tragic Hero

According to Aristotle, original poetic sources state that a tragic hero endures various misfortunes while trying to obtain essential goals. As a king, Oedipus punishes Laius's Killers. The murderers of Laius have been placed into a penalty of an exile without the concern of the King. Some of the blunders he irrationally made him be cast out of the community. Following Laiu's justice, the tragedy of the King surfaced in the city (Rahman, 2015). The past mistakes he did haunt him that he cannot admit that he married him and killed his father by accident. Through a complex plot, Sophocles epitomizes Aristotle's definition of a tragic hero effectively. The noble trait of Oedipus, moral principles, greatness, and fortune reversal will be analyzed on the Oedipus sad end (Arp & Johnson, 2015). There are several factors that Aristotle uses while defining a tragedy based on the imitation of an absolute noble magnitude that artistically enhances a language. Aristotle states that a tragic hero should arouse terror and consequent pity and fear. The audience pity with the hero because he suffers a terrible downfall in his life.

Aristotle also stated that the tragic hero brought fear and terror. The audience continued to sympathize with the sad terror incident due to his terrible downfall. The tragic character, according to Aristotle, was a character who possesses a given certainty that was not caught in any faultless justice, but not a person who was caught in any experiences and misfortunes based on some miscalculation (Arp & Johnson, 2015). Through the employment of the perfect tragedy, which was employing a complex structure that imitates a particular action, that enhances fear and pity. Sophocles demonstrates the story of a man who tries to explain appropriate conduct as he discredits his past life. Oedipus was trying to emulate his previous life when he discovered that his city was snowed under pestilence. According to Creon, he stated that everything would be useful when the Apollo oracle is set free (Arp & Johnson, 2015).Fall of Oedipus

Creon also said that if Oedipus is found, everything will be just fine. Oedipus is, therefore, determine to get on hold of Laius murderers; he, therefore, sends a blind seers Tiresias who accused Oedipus to be the person behind Laius murder. We later see Oedipus not impressed with the prophet's words; he also cited the Tiresias statement as a scheme of throwing him outside of the throne. However, as time goes by, Oedipus admitted that he was the person behind King Laui's murder (Arp & Johnson, 2015). Oedipus was later relinquished from his position after he was discovered to fortuitously killing his father and then marrying his mother. This scenario haunted Oedipus, and he could not believe the fact that he was the real killer of his father and marrying his mother. His eyes were removed out as the punishment that he sets for the murderer of the Laius criminals.

Oedipus Weaknesses

Oedipus demonstrated some destructive action that led to his fall from his fortune glory on the influence; he later realizes that his actions were fortunes of his own mistakes. The tragedy follows the fall of the greater hero to a lower position in society. Oedipus was a greater hero who descended from a dominant position to the lowest level. He fell from a higher place that summarizes the book of the tragedy of the hero (Adade et al., 2017). Sophocles and Osborne stated that Oedipus was a great model of tragic hero based on the character he demonstrated. He also suffers a hamartia, which was reflected as a reversal that formed the heart of the tragedy. The repeal of the fame of Oedipus, according to Aristotle, the fortune of the aspects reflects on the tragic factor in the whole script. When the character demonstrates as a tragic hero, they must be either experiencing a degradation in the society (Rahman, 2015). Aristotle stated that the reversal of tragedy is the leading cause of pity and fear in the audience's opinions in the following reading. The establishment of the critical lapse judgment has brought the fall of the superiority rule of a master.

Oedipus has a good character as a person; however, he is chained by his rudeness. He has a weakness in looking for the actions of his behavior, such as killing his father and marrying his mother. According to Aristotle, a good tragic hero must contain a good character, but he must be flawed. Concerning the danger, the people of Thebes are facing, Oedipus is forced to look for the murderers of his father. The Thebes community faced god's wrath of the plague because of the people who killed Laius (Adade et al., 2017). Oedipus was more disturbed by the act of murder without understanding that he was the real murderer in the community.

Oedipus Pride

He saw other people be wicked, and he treated others with impunity forgetting that he is also not clean. Oedipus is seen to be an ignorant and stupid person because of his behavior and character of the killing of innocent people (Arp & Johnson, 2015). He cannot admit he violates his own rules that he set on the effects of killing one another. Aristotle also stated that Oedipus had set a fine for the killers of Laius without knowing that he too is a murderer of his family. The character and fame of Oedipus changed from the right person to the wrong person after the murder of his father incident. According to Aristotle, he stated that a tragic hero should be based on the sad error that has been committed by the great heroes in the community.

The tragic character, according to Aristotle, was a character who possesses a given certainty that was not caught in any faultless justice, but not a person who was caught in any experiences and misfortunes based on some miscalculation. There are several factors that Aristotle uses while defining a tragedy based on the imitation of an absolute noble magnitude that artistically enhances a language (Arp & Johnson, 2015). Aristotle states that a tragic hero should arouse terror and consequent pity and fear. Oedipus was later relinquished from his position after he was discovered to fortuitously killing his father and then marrying his mother.

This scenario haunted Oedipus, and he could not believe the fact that he was the real killer of his father and marrying his mother (Rahman, 2015). Sophocles and Osborne stated that Oedipus was a great model of tragic hero based on the character he demonstrated. He also suffers a hamartia, which was reflected as a reversal that formed the heart of the tragedy. The repeal of the fame of Oedipus, according to Aristotle, the fortune of the aspects reflects on the tragic factor in the whole script. The repeal of the fame of Oedipus, according to Aristotle, the fortune of the aspects reflects on the tragic factor in the whole script. When the character demonstrates as a tragic hero, they must be either experiencing a degradation in the society (Rahman, 2015).

End of Era

After the accidental murder of his father and committing incest to his mother, Oedipus fortune accidentally changes from good to bad. Aristotle stated that the change of tragic hero from the right person to a wrong person should not be because of the challenges, but because of the faulty tragedy (Arp & Johnson, 2015). He was now viewed as an outcast, and the respect he accords was no longer there among his people. Oedipus was indeed not troubled by the sexual affair and murder he committed to his parents, he, continued showing ruling his community as if there was nothing wrong. There are several factors that Aristotle uses while defining a tragedy based on the imitation of an absolute noble magnitude that artistically enhances a language. Aristotle states that a tragic hero should arouse terror and consequent pity and fear. Most people who respected his ruling and leadership were, however, disappointed and shocked to learn that he was involved in such an act. According to Aristotle, the fall of a leader is characterized by the tragic tragedy they experience in their surroundings (Rahman, 2015). Oedipus bore his fortune since he broke some of the rules that were meant to govern the whole community.

According to Aristotle, a tragic hero must be a role model, respectable and a leader. A tragic hero also possesses several downfalls in his life. However, the change from good to bad should not be based on the challenges they face but from the nature of their surroundings. Oedipus failed to uphold his leadership dignity and standards. When he took action to kill his father and sleep with his mother, he established his tragic tragedy downfall. The change of fortune from evil to good should be because of frailty challenges, according to Aristotle. Aristotle also stated that a fall of the appeal in a play creates fear and uncertainty to the audience and the reader, creates emotions, feelings, and understanding with the attractiveness. In the play, we witnessed the fall of Sophocles Oedipus from the tragic tragedy that he undergoes through in the play.

References

Arp, T. R., & Johnson, G. (2015). Perrine's Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. Retrieved from http://www.dawnbuckinghamgoldsmith.com/perrine-39-s-literature-structure-sound-and-sense.pdf

Adade-Yeboah, A., Ahenkora, K., & Amankwah, A. S. (2017). The Tragic Hero of the Classical Period.Retrieved from http://ir.csuc.edu.gh:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/504

Rahman, M. (2015). Evolution of the Tragic Hero: a shift from God to Man (Doctoral dissertation, BRAC University.Retrieved from http://dspace.bracu.ac.bd/xmlui/handle/10361/5014